User talk:MikeG

Your Questions

First, be careful of your use of the term "fundamentalism". Originally it meant someone who accepts the particular points of Christian belief outlined in a series of books titled "The Fundamentals", but it has come to mean an extremist in any religion. If you only want answers from religious extremists, please ignore my answers.

Your questions

1. Were you brought up in a religious family, or did you find Christianity later in life?
2. Do you believe that individuals who do not believe in the Christian God will go to hell no matter whether they are otherwise a "good" person?
3. If the answer to this question is "yes", do you feel comfortable with this?
4. Do you believe that some other religions such as Islam worship essentially the same God and may achieve the same rewards in the afterlife as yourself?
5. Do you ever have doubts about your faith for any reason?
6. Do you feel that God communicates with you directly?
7. Do you believe that all of the bible is a) God's own words? and b) Intended to be taken literally?
8. Many people in Britain associate the refusal to acknowledge the possiblity of human-caused global warming with the (largely American) Christian right movement. Do you feel that such a correlation exists, and if so, why does it?
9. Do you believe that Armageddon will occur in the relatively near future and if so does this have any bearing on decisions and plans you make about life?
10. Do you think that homosexuality may one day be completely accepted by all major branches of the church?

My answers

1. I was brought up in a Christian family.
2. Yes. Individuals who choose to be separate from God get their wish, and end up in a place where God isn't, which is known as "Hell", and without God there to keep things under control, it will be a very unpleasant place.
3. Comfortable with people getting their wish? Why not?
4. No. The Christian God is a Triune God, having three persons in one. This is not the same as any other religion, so is not "essentially the same God". And Jesus said that He is the only way to God, so (assuming He is correct, which of course I'm convinced He is), followers of other religions are clearly not going to "achieve the same rewards in the afterlife". Not that I will receive any rewards for following Christianity anyway. I will get some rewards for doing what God wants me to do (to the extent that I have), but basically, being able to spend eternity in His presence is not a reward, but a gift that he generously offers us, even though we don't deserve it. Would you like that gift also?
5. I sometimes wonder about some of the details, but as far as the basic beliefs are concerned, I have seen so many reasons to believe, I'm utterly convinced that what I believe is correct, so no, I have no doubts.
6. No, if by that question you mean an audible voice, but yes, if you mean that He takes a personal interest in me and influences what I do.
7. Yes, and no, respectively. The Bible contains history, teaching, poetry and songs, parables, metaphors, and even reports of people lying and doing other bad things. I take literally the parts that were intended to be taken literally (e.g. the history), but I take the parables as parables, the metaphor as metaphor, etc.
8. Perhaps because I'm not American, I don't know, but some of the alleged evidence for global warming is the claimed historical evidence of temperatures on Earth for hundreds of thousands or millions of years, which time spans are part of the anti-biblical ideology of uniformitarianism, so that may possibly be a factor.
9. I have no idea when it will occur (people have been expecting the end times to be imminent for centuries), and it doesn't have any real bearing on my decisions and plans.
10. No. I don't believe that all the church will reject God's design to that extent.

Philip J. Rayment 10:28, 1 June 2007 (EDT)

Your questions - my answers

1 Were you brought up in a religious family, or did you find Christianity later in life? Later in life. 2 Do you believe that individuals who do not believe in the Christian God will go to hell no matter whether they are otherwise a "good" person? No - god decides. 3 If the answer to this question is "yes", do you feel comfortable with this? n/a 4 Do you believe that some other religions such as Islam worship essentially the same God and may achieve the same rewards in the afterlife as yourself? Maybe - I do not know. 5 Do you ever have doubts about your faith for any reason? Yes - human and imperfect. 6 Do you feel that God communicates with you directly? Insofar as any to things are connected and linked. 7 Do you believe that all of the bible is a) God's own words? and b) Intended to be taken literally? a) No. b) No. 8 Many people in Britain associate the refusal to acknowledge the possiblity of human-caused global warming with the (largely American) Christian right movement. Do you feel that such a correlation exists, and if so, why does it? Yes; the Christian right (more right than Christian) has financial interests in denying global warming. 9 Do you believe that Armageddon will occur in the relatively near future and if so does this have any bearing on decisions and plans you make about life? No; Acts 1:7. 10 Do you think that homosexuality may one day be completely accepted by all major branches of the church? Quite possibly.

--wikinterpreter ^woo!